The Nigerian edikaikong soup has over the years topped the list of Nigerian popular soups because of its nutritional value and ease of preparation.
This soup is native to the efiks, people from cross river state. The name edikaikong simply translates to “vegetable soup”

I make more of this soup than every other Nigerian soup simply because it is likely the best source of vitamins known to me.

The only downside to this soup is that it loses its nutritional value when refrigerated over a long period of time. It is advisable to make what would be enough for few days, one week at most. (but that is if you care about its nutritional value, some folks don’t remember that part)

Here are all the ingredients for making Nigerian edikaikong soup, you can reduce or increase depending on the number of people you are looking to feed.

Below are the images of some of the ingredients used for edikaikong soup, I like to pound my pepper/crayfish whenever I am making this delicious soup.

You would find sliced water leaves in one bowl, sliced ugu leaves, 1.5kg of meat (goat meat and cow liver), pounded crafish/pepper and periwinkles.

Have you seen or eaten periwinkles before, I like them so much. You can purchase already-cleaned periwinkle from most Nigerian market, although it is entirely up to you to decide if you want them or not. You will learn more from the video below

How to prepare ofe edikaikong

Parboil meat with necessary ingredients, 2 cubes of maggi, half cup of onions, salt and other spice of choice. (I like to also add kitchen glory (beef seasoning) while parboiling meats but I am not sure if this spice is available in other countries)

Cook for 10 minutes then add water and cook till meat is 70% softer for consumption, wash the dry fish and stock fish with hot water to remove sand and impurities then add to the cooking meat on fire. (You can add this at the beginning if you have very dry (strong) fish

Slice the ugwu leaves and Water leaves to bits (this is normally done by the traders in the market (in Nigeria) but you can slice at home with the help of a very sharp knife and a chopping board.
Pour the leaves separately in bowls and soak in water, wash to remove sand.

It is advisable to wash the leaves thoroughly before slicing or slice before washing, this is actually the major reason why I chose to slice my leaves myself. You can wash the fluted pumpkin before slicing but you will need to slice the water leaves before washing.

To the boiling meat on fire; 1 cup of Palm oil (250ml), it takes lots of oil to prepare this soup. I used about 300ml to make the soup in the video below.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5-10 minutes, be sure the whole combination is boiling with very little trace of water
Stir, taste for salt and pepper before adding the water leaves, stir and allow for about 3 minutes then add the ugwu leaves (fluted pumpkin), stir, add the pounded crayfish/pepper, periwinkles, 1-2 cubes of maggi, stir, taste for salt, add one tablespoon of ground ofor or achi (optional), sprinkle a spoon or a little more, stir. cover half-way and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes.

You just made delicious edikaiakong soup, you can serve with Nigerian fufu, semo, wheat, eba, or pounded yam. What you find below is a plate of edikaikong soup plus a combination of prepared wheat and semo.

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Here is a simple video

Most people learn faster with videos so we also included a video on making Nigerian Edikaikong soup, you will also learn about all the ingredients used in making this soup and even much more about other Nigerian foods.

I made this video about a week ago in my kitchen, In the Nigerian Kitchen. it gives you a better illustration of the above written article, you will learn about all the ingredients used in making edikaikong soup as well as the processes involved in making the soup.

Yea! I love this soup. Edikaikong is my favorite soup since I learned to prepare it from you. For a long time I have been hearing about how delicious it is but now I can also say that this soup is super delicious. It is now my favorite vegatble soup.

Please can I use just fluted pumpkin leaves for edikaikong soup, I collected a lot of those from my little garden beside my house and I am wondering if I need to buy water leaves since I have enough of fluted pumpkin. Thanks

You have the best site for Nigerian foods, thanks for all these wonderful recipes, I found your site while I was searching for how to make edikaikong soup. I am from Igbo but I really love this calabar/efik soup
thanks for teaching me.

wow!!! this is super delicious and you are the best, please keep doing this wonderful job of teaching us to cook with confidence, my God will surely bless you and enlarge your coast. I will try the edikaikong this weekend, thanks

I love your site. Sometimes when I’m less busy with school, I spend hours here. I’m not married yet so most times I try out your recipes on my roomate. Lol. The last soup I made was the vegetable soup and it didn’t turn out like what I see. Mine had water despite I made sure that before adding the veggies there was almost no water in the already cooked ingredients. It was just a thick consistency of meat,oil and the other ingredients. I figured the water came from the waterleaf. My question is how do you deal with the excess water from the waterleaf without overcooking it? (Overcooking it makes it black and that green colour is essential). A friend suggested after washing the waterleaf I should put it in a sieve and allow it drain out completely before adding to the soup.

You could simmer the waterleaves alone in another pot for four minutes, 70% of the water would spill out, you can then transfer into a sieve and allow to drain, then just add it, stir and bring down the soup. If you want to use this method you will then have to add the fluted pumpkin leave to the soup first.
Cheers